Category Archives: iPhone Features

How to monetize mobile marketing campaigns

Posted on November 6, 2009 | Leave a comment

RFID Enabled iPhone a Boon to Mobile Marketing?

via: Mobile Marketing Watch

The future of monetizing mobile marketing campaigns will be greatly simplified in tandem with the advent of newer, more convenient payment tools for consumers.

As a result, the mobile marketing community is buzzing this week over the recent speculation by Einar Rosenberg, Chief Technology Officer of Narian Technologies, Apple is currently tinkering with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip for possible inclusion in the next generation iPhone.

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Apple’s impetus for seeking an RFID enabled iPhone is obvious. For Apple, turning the device into a handy payment tool makes the iPhone a far more convenient device than it already is. For mobile marketers, however, a group that has not yet had widespread opportunities to piggy-pack on such technology, the benefits could be equally bountiful.

Some mobile marketers have been gearing up for this eventuality just as aggressively as the tech world has.

In June, for example, Dairy Queen began testing an RFID-based customer loyalty program in Indiana. Customers who signed up for the program subsequently received coupons on their mobile phones via text message. The coupons were redeemable using RFID labels attached to the phones.

Apple’s potential foray into this arena could conceivably change the landscape of mobile technology forever in the US. And the impact on mobile marketing could be just as significant.

 

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iPhone application piracy problems

Posted on November 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

New Stats Prove iPhone App Piracy Is Rampant

via: MobileMarketingWatch

ailbreaking methods have been around as long as the iPhone, and recent stats prove that the practice is also leading to a surge in app piracy- a problem that Apple is beginning to take seriously.

By having a jailbroken iPhone, you also have access to pirated or “cracked” apps that are available from a variety of sources.  Cracked apps usually include premium apps otherwise only available for a fee via the iTunes store.

Mobile analytics provider Pinch Media decided to take a look at the issue and discovered the problem is bigger than most think.  They’ve been tracking jailbroken devices for several months now and have started to get a handle on this previously unexamined ecosystem.

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According to their data, which includes 4 million jailbroken devices, 38% have at least one pirated application installed.  Pinch Media says this estimate is low since pirates often take extra steps to avoid detection.  Still, it’s worth noting that this percentage is nowhere near being the majority of jailbreaking users, since there’s a majority of people who just want extra control over their device and not necessarily an opportunity to steal apps.

read full article here.

 

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Are iPhone app developers ignoring the vast majority of mobile customers?

Posted on November 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

via: MobiThinking

Brands that focus on the iPhone are ignoring the vast majority of customers that use other phones. That’s the message from mobile analytics firm Bango and it’s clearly underscored by the latest statistics.

Bango counts unique handsets that access all mobile sites that use Bango’s popular analytics tools to identify and track mobile visitors and process payments. For February 2009, the iPhone does not even make the Top 20. mobiThinking spotted this previously, but this is the first time that Bango has gone public with its message.

Given the hype about the iPhone and the surprising number of companies that have released Apple-only sites and applications recently, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Bango has gone a bit mad, but it is talking sense. Nor is Bango alone in pointing out this anomaly. The vast majority of your customers don’t use iPhones and won’t. iPhones are great, but they only account for a small percentage of smartphones and smartphones only account for a small percentage of handsets.

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But weren’t Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch the top handsets in February 2009, according to AdMob Mobile Metrics Report? We hear you ask…

They were, but if you read AdMob’s report correctly, it doesn’t and never claimed to count unique users. AdMob counts the number of mobile adverts its advertising network serves to different types of phones, not unique handsets; so if iPhone users surf more (aren’t the majority of iPhone users on unlimited data plans?), then iPhones go to the top.

See Bango’s stats side-by-side with AdMob’s below.

But aren’t Bango and AdMob just measuring visitors to their customers’ sites?

That’s true, the view of both is restricted to their customers’ sites, which are concentrated in the US and European markets (both core markets for the iPhone), but they are recognized leaders in their fields, with large customer bases, so have a better perspective than most. More on this here.

So who backs up Bango’s view?

First up, there are the global sales figures for new smartphones for last year, released by Gartner:

  • Smartphones account for 11-12 percent of all mobile handsets sold globally.
  • iPhones account for 8.2 percent of the smartphones sold globally.
  • Towards the end of the year, smartphone growth had slowed to 3.7 percent.

    • So the iPhone was less than 1 percent of new phones last year – note this ignores all those people who didn’t change their phone last year. Would any marketers cast their net so needlessly thin in any other channel? See the hard figures below.

     

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    How is the iphone in China different?

    Posted on November 1, 2009 | Leave a comment

    The iPhones sold in China are missing one key feature.

    via: USA Today

    BEIJING — Apple’s iPhone made its long-awaited formal debut in the world’s most populous mobile phone market, without a key feature and at higher prices than widely available black market models.

    Apple’s local partner, China Unicom, hopes the sleek smartphone will give it an edge against giant rival China Mobile, the world’s biggest phone company by subscribers.

    Unicom started selling iPhones equipped for third-generation service Friday night at 2,000 stores in areas as farflung as Tibet. Chinese news reports say Unicom hopes to sell 5 million in three years, but the company declined to confirm that.

    read full article here.

    Mobile App Developer Jobs at FoneGigs.com

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    The Voice Control iPhone Feature

    Posted on October 22, 2009 | Leave a comment

    Via MobileMammoth.com

    The new iPhone feature is called Voice Control. You can use Voice Control to dial a contact by name or by phone number, play a song on the built-in iPod, find out the song currently playing, or even create a genius playlist based on the current song playing.

    To use Voice Control, simply press and hold the home button. At the tone, speak a command such as “Call Will Ferrell”, or “Call 408.555.1212″. To play a song, simply say, “Play Darius Rucker”. You get the idea.

    So stop using your fingers to dial while driving and start using Voice Control on the iPhone 3GS. Who knows — the life you save may be your own.

    Read full article here.

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